Bitcoin tries to become a legal currency in Thailand, gets outlawed instead

(Posted on 7/29/13 at 5:35 pm)

quote:Internet-only currency Bitcoin has just suffered a setback on its up-and-down journey to wider acceptance — the currency has just been banned by the Thailand government. That means that as of now, Bitcoins are not able to be sold, purchased, or used as currency in any purchase, nor can they be transferred in or out of the country. According to The Telegraph, that makes Thailand the first country to ban the currency outright. Somewhat ironically, this ban came as a result of local exchange Bitcoin Co. Ltd was working to legitimize the currency in Thailand. Previously, the country had ruled that Bitcoin was not a currency, which caused Bitcoin Co. Ltd to reach out to the government in an attempt to lawfully register and operate. As part of that due dilligence, the group working to legitimize Bitcoin had reached out to the Bank of Thailand for guidance and to acquire the proper licenses.

From there, the Bank of Thailand invited the Bitcoin team to a conference to further educate them on how the currency worked and what the benefits of Bitcoin are — after which the bank's foreign exchange administration and policy department voted to shut Thailand's Bitcoin exchange down.

re: Bitcoin tries to become a legal currency in Thailand, gets outlawed instead (Posted on 7/29/13 at 6:27 pm to rickgrimes)

quote:rickgrimes

the headline is sensationalistic and may not even be true.

discussions of the topic have indicated that this was just the advisement of central bankers and not a law that was passed. I'm not denying the claim, but I am hesitant to believe it without further details. there's a pretty long Reddit thread and bitcointalk.org thread on it if you're interested.

re: Bitcoin tries to become a legal currency in Thailand, gets outlawed instead (Posted on 7/29/13 at 8:17 pm to WikiTiger)

quote:this was just the advisement of central bankers and not a law that was passed

And, of couse, your vast experience working with central banks makes you knowledgeable about what powers the senior members of the Foreign Exchange Administration and Policy Department of the Central Bank of Thailand have when it comes to decreeing what is and is not a legal currency within Thailand.